Cult Television

From a man who wrote his thesis on Buffy, this rant is just a little food for thought.

I am so incredibly pissed off at this point in time! I have just heard some ridiculously annoying news. I heard it from an unconfirmed source so I hope that I’m wrong but I’m probably not. It turns out that Serenity will not be theatrically released in South Africa. The bastard Powers That Be are cunts but it merely proved the point that cult audiences will always be ridiculed and rejected as a viable audience for quality entertainment.

This has been happening ever since the term Cult Television was coined. The term cult entertainment can be applied to almost anything from music to movies to books. It is Cult Television that interests me because it is unpopular even though it is so freely available. What is more astounding is the way in which they affect society. Take Star Trek for example. It began in the sixties and after five different series, nine movies and countless books is still very much in the public consciousness. Yet how many people admit to being fans. Wouldn’t it be strange to still have spin off series of Friends running in forty years time.

Its because these series create worlds that are other than our own. Most Cult Television series are either science fiction or fantasy and these worlds are bigger than the relationships between its characters, though these relationships do play a huge part. Cult Television takes escapism out of this world and into one where the average person can be extraordinary. This is why Buffy is so popular. She is an ordinary person just like the fan. She struggles with the obstacles that life places in her path. It just so happens that these obstacles are the undead.

Though very few people watch Cult Television it continues to exist. Fans don’t merely watch an episode every now and then. They watch it religiously. They tape it for later viewing until the DVD becomes available and then they buy two copies. As long as fans continue to spend so much money and time on Cult Television it will continue to exist. And the world will be more interesting for it.